This morning we set a 4.30am alarm to catch the iconic raising of the flag in Tianeman Square, a tradition dating back to 1949 to mark the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Thousands flock to watch this one-minute event each morning. As we watched the flag being hoisted, excited spectators sung along to the…

Using WordPress is a proper headache, so I’ll photodump here in the hope they post (photos and words seem to disappear without rhyme or reason). Tomorrow on to the Forbidden City and Tianeman Square ❤️ 💙 💜

We lost eight hours on the flight over, many hours of sleep, and all my bank cards. We quickly learned some fancy interprative dance moves, which we executed with gusto on airport security, who kindly jumped in a bus and retrieved my purse from underneath seat 44G. Elated and excited, we jumped straight onto the…